The asana practice is often a solitary one. Even when we are in a class with others, we can feel isolated on our mats. We may practice tuning out the world so we can connect with our Selves. But when we practice together, it’s an opportunity to realize our shared nature. Engaging in postures together provides an opportunity to nurture each other, to practice giving and to learn how to graciously receive. A partner can illuminate different sensations in a posture, which changes how we experience and feel yoga in our bodies, and expands our ideas of what it means to practice “yoga.”

By exploring asana with a partner, we deepen our own practice through listening, observation and mindful movements. This shared practice cultivates playfulness and joy, as well as fostering trust in our partner. We rely on our partners to support us, help us, and guide us through surrender. These shared experiences deepen our awareness and connection not only to each other, but also to our own bodies through shared touch, breath, and movement. We can more fully experience a posture with the help of another. And in this we realize that very few things we do in life are actually the result of our own isolated efforts; that we are in so many ways entwined with one another, relying on each other for support, balance, and guidance.

Join us February 7, 12-2 p.m. Sign up here.Early bird: $30/pair before February 1, 2015$35/pair after February 1, 2015

Passion, intrigue, betrayal, gods, goddesses, demons… What more could one ask? We all love a good story. Anyone else stay up all night to read the final volume of Harry Potter? Have you ever been swept away to Wuthering Heights? Compelling novels and movies spark our imagination and lure into awareness secret yearnings and needs. We play out our longing to pulse with life, to experience even the shadow, and to do battle with our darkest self through the characters in the story.

The ancient yogis looked at forces of nature and saw gods and goddesses at play. They went deep into meditation and saw similar movements in the human psyche. This they labeled god and goddess as well and created fertile, potent mythology. Reading the Mahabarata, one of India’s two epic works, is like reading Harry Potter on steroids.

We as modern yogis and yoginis can leverage Hindu mythology to aid our personal practice. We can use its verbiage and imagery to help describe meditative experiences. Mystics of all spiritual paths have long struggled to verbalize experiences of expanded consciousness. This is where mythology can help. When I contemplate the devastation and blackness left after a forest fire, I can bring to mind the goddess Kali and am reminded that from dissolution springs potential, rebirth. When I enter deep meditation and feel as if my cranium dissolves into the heavens, I can name it an experience of Bhuvaneswari, goddess of sacred space. When I am brought to my knees in awe of an exquisite sunset, I remember goddess Lakshmi and her abundant heart. Remembering the words and images of mythology helps me label, give voice to the sensations in my body and spirit so I can hold the experience and recognize it when it surfaces again.

It works the other way as well. Meditative states are facilitated when using mantras and imagery of the goddesses. When I want to invoke my courage, flexibility and adaptability, I chant to the goddess Durga, contemplate her iconography, and remember her story. Such a practice has the subtle effect of awakening neurological pathways so that I do feel more courageous. I am not calling on an external agency. Mantra is a phrase repeated to animate dormant aspects of our own consciousness. Chanting, storytelling, and contemplating iconography are all right brain activities. Creative exercises such as these rouse the vijanamaya kosha. According to yoga, vijanamaya kosha is present in all people and represents our natural intuition and wisdom. Touching into vijanamaya kosha is said to be one of the most powerful techniques to work for deep personal transformation.

I have found this true in my personal practice. That is why I am so excited to offer two workshops in February entitled The Wisdom Goddesses of Yoga. The workshop on February 14 focuses on the great love story of Parvati and Shiva. You are every character in the story, so this story is not about external relationships. Rather it is the story of that part of you dedicated to personal evolution. On February 28, we will explore the relationship between devastating lose and its inherent potential with the stories of Kali and Lakshmi. We might need a bit of Durga thrown in for courage to face what life brings.

Join me as we use mantra, mythology, meditation and asana as portals to inner love, wisdom, and enduring strength.

When people ask me why I consider Kira Ryder my teacher, the reply is simple; playing with her brings more love to my life, expands my awareness of self, deepens my sense of connection to all and creates laughter, a whole lot of laughter.

Practicing with Kira is this beautiful dance of going deeply into myself in a fearless and safe manner while simultaneously nurturing a light hearted way of being, of developing affection for the self and compassion for others. For me, this creates an extraordinary space from which to grow, love and be surprised.

This February we'll explore the Primal Longings of our Heart, The Nature and Cosmic Play of Desire, weaving wisdom of the sages, scientists, mystics and monkeys. What will we find in this exploration? I'm not sure! Yet my previous play with her ensures me that she'll draw upon her deep and expansive knowledge of the Yogic traditions to open us up to unseen aspects of our being. We'll be surprised, we'll laugh, we may shed a few tears and we'll feel the fullness our hearts and humanness.

I hope you'll come play with us and experience love; for it's real and it's always available to us. If you'd like to hear more about my personal experiences with Kira, please contact me at Kristina@livewellstudio.com. I'm happy to share.